Reluctant Hero
by latte2
Summary: Vixen's niece is force by her aunt to join the team to learn to control her powers. This is an OC.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This story being updated. After reading the latest chapters, I decided to combing the first four which are all less than a thousand word into one. Sorry for the confusion but its still the same with some things corrected for continuity.

Chapter 1

She snatched the coat off her bed, put it on, and marched down the hall to her brothers' room. Inspecting the state of the room as she entered, she gave them directions for the night. Brian was nine and would be in charge of Alex seven. They would eat the food prepared in the fridge and be in bed by nine. She would be home by ten. Brian nodded as she went on with the directions. Mrs. Lulla Mae would keep an eye out for them and they could call her if they had any questions. Sari was supposed to watch them tonight, but as usual her sister was a no show.

Like most nights her dad was nowhere to be found. That was okay by her. He was just one less thing to worry about. Lately, he had found himself someplace to be other than mopping round the house getting drunk trying to forget their mother. She had died in a car accident last year and things were definitely taking a turn for the worse. Her loving, caring father transformed into a distant, withdrawn man. Let him stay out it would mean that her brothers would be a little better.

After finishing the directions, she hugged them and said bye. She marched out of the front door. She waved at Mrs. Lulla Mae who waved back her from her porch. Mrs. Lulla Mae was a member of her church. If you wanted or needed, Mrs. Lulla Mae could help you. This year she had seen a lot of Mrs. Lulla Mae. It was she who had gotten her a job working at the local library in the afternoons after school. It was also Mrs. Lulla Mae who tended to her brothers when her sister had flights of fancy. She walked pass the rows of shotgun houses and little front yards that dotted the landscape. Things just kept getting better and better she thought as she came to the bus stop and boarded the bus that came along.

Her neighborhood looked tough but mostly it was filled with an elderly community and a few small families. They rarely had any type of trouble thanks to the neighborhood watch, also known as the Little Lady Chat Circle.

She had been instructed to come to her aunt's house tonight. She watched as the scenery changed from rows of sad houses mired in struggle to happier ones smiling brightly in their finery. The houses on this street said we know of the bests the world has to offer. She got off when the bus stopped and walked down the street to her aunt's house.

She entered the code at the gate and pushed the button and walked in. By the time she got to the door her aunt was already there.

"Hello, Earla, your right on time," she said smiling.

"Hey, Auntie Mari," Earla replied back. She hated her name. She was named after her father Earl. Earla her mom had told her meant warrior. Yeah, because she was in a battle for existence.

He aunt was the prettiest woman she knew. She actually worked as a supermodel and had her picture in plenty of magazines.

"Tonight, Earla," her aunt explained, "you will be going to Mount Justice to meet the others like you. There they will teach you about your powers and how to control them. You will need a disguise. So, I took the liberty of getting one for you." She then handed her clothes and pointed to the bathroom.

Earla nodded when she finished talking. She really didn't have time for this crap. Let some others take care of the supped up metajunkies and leave her out of this mess. She sighed as this was not to be because her aunt had caught her using her powers to charge up the battery on brother's portable game. He had forgotten to charge it and was in a huff because it would be dead for most of the trip they would be on. She had walked into an empty room and she just was going to give it a quick charge when she was caught. Thus, she ended up in her current situation. Stuck going to Justice League Jr. She put on the clothes and thought her aunt was crazy.

The outfit she had given her was a ridiculous shade of cerulean compete with white gloves and boots and a full head mask. Thank the lord for small favors. Why did superheroes insist on looking like complete loons? She walked out of the bathroom.

"Don't forget to call me Vixen," Auntie Mari said.

"Ok, and what do I call myself?" She asked feeling completely ridiculous.

"Your code name is Volt. We will be transporting from another location. Always keep the mask on and be careful."

She wasn't a fool. Although, her faith in that was beginning to wane. Why in the seven hells did they have to dress like this? Aunt Mari, er, Vixen walked over to a wall in the living room and pressed a button beside a plant. It led to a secret exit out of the house. They then walked another block before approaching old closed down tenement building. Her aunt walked to the faded blue door and keyed in a number into the electronic look. Following her aunt inside, she was amazed at the interior of the place it certainly didn't match the outside. There was a computer on one wall and a mat for working out along with other equipment.

"You can get the tour of HQ later," Vixen stated noticing the awe in my eyes. She walked to a far corner of the room onto a square mat.

"This is where we transport from." Vixen said as she inside and pulled her in and showed her the code to activate the transport from the pad on the wall. Square mat began to glow and she felt this jerking sensation.

She heard the computer speak just after she and her aunt appeared in a tunnel. She followed her aunt's lead as the tunnel emerged into a large open area. She couldn't help but be impressed at the heroes gathered at the computer; she could make out Batman and some woman and man in a red suit. She missteped and nearly tripped. Great, klutzy much she thought.

"You will be here until you are given clearance to leave," Vixen stated. "I will have someone looking in on your brothers. Just be yourself and train."

"Yes, I understand," Earla replied. She didn't want to do this. She had told the story to her aunt about how she had gotten her powers when she was being grilled last week. She had been at a track meet at Dakota Union High when a big cloud of smoke had appeared. She was taken to the hospital like everyone else and checked out okay, but over the next few days she found that she could control electricity and create small charges. Really, she had dealt with this over a year and had learned to turn it on and off she didn't need the training.

Batman was currently informing the team of the next mission that they were going to be on.

"This past Fourth of July," stated Batman, "four ice villains staged simultaneous attacks. Mr. Freeze, Icicle Jr., Killer Frost, and Captain Cold were all apprehended. Perhaps too quickly Cold and Frost were immediately sent to Bell Reve Penitentiary. The federal facility designed to house super-villians."

"The seventeen year old Icicle Jr. was sent to a juvenile facility while Freeze was sent to his usual cell in Arkaham Asylum. Freeze petition to be declared legally sane and Icicle Jr. sued to be tried as an adult.

As a result, both await transport to Belle Reve which seems to have been the goal all along. Superboy and Miss Martian have been chosen to go undercover to find out why."

An unknown boy with blond hair asked, "Who inside will know their true identities?"

"No one, we can't be sure the prison staff hasn't been compromised," Batman answered. " You two will be asked to memorized the information in this packet." He said as he handed them the information. "You will also be given special training by Canary for this mission." The two teen took the folders and nodded.

"This is Volt." Batman continued, "She has recently come into her powers and will be coming to here to train. Volt, this is Superboy, Miss Martian, and Aqualad. The other members of the team Kid Flash, Robin, and Artemis are out. This is Black Canary she is in charge of your training schedule along with Red Tornado who resides here and monitors the activities of the heroes who live here. I am in charge of the missions that the team goes on and will be in charge of determining when you are ready to join the team on missions. I am going back to the Watchtower to work on a few things. If you need any help they will be able to assist you." With that Batman stood up and walked towards the tunnel just as the light appeared with the transport tunnel.

Black Canary walked away from the computer and said, "Let's get started. You need to complete a diagnostic training routine so that I can see where exactly you are."

I looked at my aunt who gave me a smile, "Okay, I said as I stepped forward, "What do I have to do?"

"Simple," Black Canary said as she walked over to the training mat, "try to take me down."

Earla nodded and walked into the training area on the trip there she was thinking of ways to get out of this situation. Unfortunately, the trip was too short to create grand escape plans and so she punched at Black Canary. Corrections, she did not punch Black Canary but the air that was around Black Canary. She kept dodging her punches. Aqualad stayed to watch while Superboy and Miss Martian had gone off somewhere.

After she finished one last punch, Black Canary nodded, "Not bad for your first try. Let's see where your power level is Aqualad you're up." With that, he entered the ring.

"Try to hit me with your electricity." She nodded in response and pulled a bolt and tried to hit him. Black Canary was around the edge of the ring observing her actions along with her aunt and Red Tornado was watching from the computer where he had remained after Batman had left.

"That is enough for today," Black Canary stated. "Let us run the data and Red Tornado and I will have your training schedule after we confer with your aunt."

Earla waved and went off with Aqualad.

"This is the training room, and down the hall are the living quarters and the library. Finally, through here is the kitchen." Earla looked around and they found Miss Martian and Superboy in the kitchen.

"Connor focus...um hi," Miss M said as she saw them come into the room.

"Miss M, Superboy, and I live in he hall year round while the others have lives outside of the hall."

"So, basically you are under the control of Red Tornado. When do I get to meet the rest?" The three shared a look and waited.

"Why do I feel like you are setting me up?" I asked M'gann. "Well…," she started, "Wait until you meet Robin and Kid Flash."

Recognizing Kid Flash B03, Recognizing Robin B01,

"Hello, beautiful. Try not to be overwhelmed by my greatness," said Kid Flash as he appeared in the spot next to her.

"She's more than likely underwhelmed because you're not as awesome as you think. Nope, definitely not overwhelmed," Robin said as he looked at her as he walked in.

"She doesn't look underwhelmed." KF spat back.

"Then it's settled, she is whelmed."

"How do you figure?"

"Easy she in a new place surrounded by strangers that makes her nervous so she overwhelmed. But, then you showed up and are not impressive as the rest of us. So, subtract that which makes her whelmed," replied Robin.

They both then looked at her. She looked and smiled. She had always been told in case of doubt follow the crazies.

"These two are Kid Flash and Robin," Kaldur responded to her question.

"Hello," Earla replied back.

"Just call me KF everyone does. Where you from? Have you been given permission to tell? Are you going to be joining us on any missions soon?" KF asked. She shook her head. She watched as he made several quick trips to the refrigerator and a pile of sandwich ingredients appeared.

"She in the niece of Vixen and she is an electric user. That's all I could get before the program locked me out. She apparently has not been given permission to share her civs with us yet." Robin answered KF's questions. She continued to watch KF as twelve sandwiches were made. He then got a series of plates and put them on it. He then added chips.

"Ummm…", Earl stammered as KF put plates in front of everyone.

"Don't feel bad. He can't share his dets with us and cannot be around us without shades on," KF replied in quick succession, he placed a series of bottled drinks on the table and sat down.

"Only because you don't have Bats breathing down your nose." Robin replied, "Do you know what would happen if I let you in on my secret identity?" She looked at KF's plate of five sandwiches and a pile of chips.

"He has a high metabolism and essentially eats like a bottomless pit most of the time to keep up with it," Kaldur leaned over and explained.

"So, what others have you found to add to the project?" Robin asked KF. Apprehension filled the room as the others tensed.

"What is black and white, black and white, black and white?" KF asked.

"What?"

"A penguin rolling down a hill."

"What's black and white a laughing?"

"What?"

"The penguin that pushed him."

"That is awesome. Adding it now to the joke lexicon," Robin explained. If the looks were any indication they were working on a joke lexicon to throw out

She stared and sent a silent prayer that was answered when Kaldur was radioed to bring her with him back to the computer. They were both given the schedule that she would follow for the two weeks. She was to be trained by Kaldur and Black Canary. After a quick look at the schedule, she nodded.

"I look forward to working with you," Kaldur said. She nodded, said bye, and left with her aunt.

She looked down at her watch for the third time. Her brothers and she were right on schedule with a little to spare. They boarded the bus and she found her seat. It had been two weeks since she had started her training with Kaldur. He was something of a mystery. He was not boring but he was very stiff. Not to mention the other two she had met that night. She let her mind wander.

She smiled when saw her best friend Marion Thompson board the bus**. **"Hey are you still on for Sunday School and the movies afterwards."

"Yes, Creek said that he would come too. He found out that Mr. Frankel is making Renewed Brownies again and he wants to be first. He almost jumped a seven year old when he got the last brownie last time," Earla replied.

"So, want to clue me in on why you so concerned with going to church every Sunday?"

"Watch ye therefore ye no not when the master cometh."

"Your aunt still thinks that you're in choir at church?"

"Yep, not to mention the youth missionary society, junior ushers, and praise dance teams who all have meeting on Sunday. Otherwise, I wouldn't get any day off from her teachings if she thought I had any free time. Sundays are holy for a reason!" she said with a giggle.

"So, are you going to the dance next Saturday?" Marion asked, "The theme is Red Carpet."

"Of course, I have even arranged for your mom to watch the bros for me. So, who are you going with? Their conversation continued as the bus vroomed along the highway. She was going with SJ another boy in the class that was enviable. They got off the bus and headed to the cafeteria for breakfast and shared notes. Two test this week she noted and wrote down the homework that she had forgotten. The bell rang and they were on their way to the first class of the day.

Earla checked the book return cart and filed the few she found there. Working in a library had its advantages. She could work on homework at the desk and still watch her little bros. Thank you Mrs. Lulla Mae she thought. English class was brutal today. Mr. Vaughn handed the class poems to interpret and to write essays. She ended up with Emily Dickinson.

Death is a dialogue between

The spirit and the dust.

"Dissolve," says Death. The Spirit, "Sir,

I have another trust."

Death doubts it, argues from the ground.

The Spirit turns away,

Just laying off, for evidence,

An overcoat of clay.

Earla inspected the poem again and started to compose her essay. If she wrote the rough draft now, she could rewrite the final draft in history. She glanced at the clock. It was almost time for her do her final checks. She hastily scribbled the sentences got up and did her final checks and reports.

As she boarded the bus with her brothers, she was reminded of how little time she was actually spending with them now. She didn't like it. Nothing to I can do there, she though. As long as we need the fundage, I will be the happy hero.

She gave them dinner and was off to Mount Justice for her first official evaluation session against the intimidator himself, Batman. If she could pass his evaluation, she would be allowed to go on a mission. Properly supervised of course, she wanted to get out of Mount Justice even if it was dressed as a complete loon.

She arrived in the hall and saw Batman, Black Canary, and Vixen waiting by the holocomputer. Kaldur and Red Tornado had monitor duty at Belle Reve. It was indicated that the prisoners would make their move soon. KF, Artimis, and Robin were all working on different assignments.

Batman sat at the computer and started the video monitor. "This will be a test of the skills you have learned so far. You will be evaluated on your judgment, effectiveness, and overall performance. You will face two opponents. The first will be your trainer Black Canary."

Black Canary stepped into the ring and said, "Don't worry you'll do fine."

Begin Black Canary started her opening salvo and Earla countered with a barrage of her own. It went like that for about five minutes before Earla ended up on her back. The usual Earla though.

"Good," Black Canary said hand out for the assist up.

Batman typed into the computer and stated, " Your next opponent will be Vixen. You goal is to quickly neutralize the target."

When Vixen stepped into the ring Earla swallowed hard. Eye raised Earla looked at Batman. Aunt Mari had taken on some of the world's strongest supervillains and she was supposed to stop her. Morosely she walked up to her aunt. Hello failure here I come.

Vixen touched her amulet and said "Let's go." A cheetah came and I blocked with a lightning bolt and she then went on her attack then Earla countered. This time the view of the ceiling came with a revelation that it needed to be cleaned.

"Not bad," Vixen said hand out. Earla smiled. She was improving.

"I will be done with you evaluation in a few minutes. I will need to discuss my finding with your other testers," Batman said as he pointed to the kitchen.

Earla walked into the kitchen area and her mind went to paranoid mode. Was she really ready to go out and to fight actual crazies like the Joker, and Killa Frost? But, man, what a thrill it would be to fight and match wits with them. By the time they called her back, she was both equally horrified and excited about the prospect.

Batman started talking and pressing buttons on the holocomputer, "Your attack abilities have progressed a great deal. Your evaluation of the intent of your opponent is good as well." He stated as various sections of the fight video played.

"However, you lacked follow through on your attacks and you need to work on directing your electrical projections," added Vixen.

"In short, you still need a lot of work," He said pausing the video.

"However, you will be okay if you partner along with another members," added Black Canary.

"With this in mind, I am recommending you for light duties until your deficiencies are worked out," added Batman as he handed her a disk. "These are the items that you need to work on and your new training regimen. Tomorrow you will go with Kaldur and Red Tornado tomorrow night to monitor Belle Reve.

A/N: This didn't come out like I expected.

A/N: This is a reposting of this chapter with some mistakes corrected thanks to the lovely Vain Gloriousness for catching the shifts in tenses. I also want to say that this story is not dead.

A/N: Jokes were taken from my favorite youtube video 50 jokes in less than a minute it always makes me laugh. Feel free to submit any corny jokes you can thinks of but keep 'em clean. I was watching the Shawshank Redemption for the quote.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"This is mind-numbing, the lights in this place are giving me a headache, and it smells," Earla complained. There were exactly sixteen windows at the top of Belle Reve. Currently, only one side had lights on that was four sixteenth or twenty-five percent of the lights were currently powered on. Monitor duty was the name of the current hell of tedium that she was currently sitting. Somehow, she thought being on a secret spy mission would be more exciting than sitting, waiting.

"Most monitor duties are boring and I cannot help the lights. This ship was constructed on Mars and has been built to their optimal specifications," Kaldur responded unenthusiastically from his current perch in the middle of the control room.

"Why exactly are we here if nothing is going to happen?" she wondered.

"Monitor duty is extremely important to any mission," he disclosed as he stood up from the chair where he was sitting and walked over to the main console. "It is how we are able to provided mission support to team member who are involved in covert ops. We are currently monitoring the jail for any signs of distress from Superboy and Miss M." Kaldur went on to explain that communication was now facilitated by Miss M telepathically between the three to ensure security. Inside the prison, null collars were custom made to fit each of the metahuman prisoners inside. Since, Superboy and Miss M were not the Terror Twins the collars did not work to hamper their powers. This gave them an advantage that could be exploited when needed but according to their mission parameters, they could only observe and report what happened..." Kaldur paused in the middle of his explanation.

"Miss M has reported. Nothing has happened inside of the prison," Kaldur stated to Earla. She nodded and kept looking out of the window. She let her eyes wander from the window to Kaldur. He was an interesting package if there ever was one. She began to mentally catalog what she knew about the strong, silent package that was Aqualad. Calm, level-headed and the most mature one in the group of teen heroes. He came between the antics of Robin and Kid Flash often. That was really interesting that the younger heroes, Robin and Kid Flash, had more experience than the more mature, Connor and M'gann. Kaldur attempted to hold himself from the group as if that would make him a better leader, but that is not going to work she thought. Everyone needs friends.

"Why can't we just use the tube?" Earla continued wondering why they couldn't just monitor from the comfortable Mount Justice.

"While fast, the time that it takes to port in may be the difference between an injured and uninjured teammate," he responded as he looked over the console and ran some kind of program. "Boredom is a good sign it means, thankfully, that they have not been discovered."

She nodded as his answer made sense. Kaldur walked out into the hallway and came back a moment later. He walked to a small door at the left of the back of the control room reached into to the bag and pulled out a cabbage and put it into the door. While he was working, Earla took the time to examine him. His formal posture never relaxed even when he was doing manual labor like shoving cabbage in a feeding shoot.

"I ran a system's check on the bioship," he stated as he continued to chuck cabbages down the door. "The ship is running low on fuel. M has found out that it likes cabbage."

A space ship fueled on cabbage. Yep, she was definitely in the freak show Earla thought. Well, that explained the smell. She guessed that she should be thankful that the ship did not like to eat beans. That was a blessing to which she was truly grateful. A small smile played on her face as she thought about feeding the ship refried beans before a mission. She wondered if she could get Robin and KF in on the fun.

"Talk to me or I am going to go insane. How much time do I have left anyway? " she begged watching him take the bag back out into the hallway.

"We have about two hours." He responded as he walked back in and took up his seat.

"How exactly did you get involved with JJs anyway?" she asked. Wondering how such a formal guy could get mixed up the mashup that formed the current team.

"Well…" he began. He went on to explain that he had come to the attention of Aquaman after he and his friend, Garth, had prevented an attacker from taking the king's life. He was offered the chance to travel with the king and to become a protector. His friend he explained had chosen to stay at the academy and to study Atlantean sorcery. Kaldur continued and explained how the team came to being and their first mission together. "We were not as cohesive as we are currently. Even now, we are still learning."

So, she started off with the small talk she smiled and asked, "So, where are you from exactly?"

"I am from Atlantis," he stated and at the puzzled look that she gave him he went on explaining about his home world.

"I was a ward of the state of Atlantis because my mother died about a year after I started the Academy," he stated simply.

"What was she like?" Volt asked.

"Well…,"Kaldur went on and explained about his home life with his mother and how he had not known his father. After a few, moments he stopped and realized that he was rambling on. "What about you?"

"Well, not much to say I am the second of four. I live in the Crescent City and proud of it. My little bros are the best in the world…," it was now her turn to get lost in the story of her family life. She told him about being on a field trip and how she got her powers from the Big Bang in Dakota.

They were knocked out of their conversation by the arrival of Red Tornado who was taking up the next shift. Kaldur gave the report and Red Tornado nodded as neither expected much to happen this night. He guided Volt from the ship in stealth mode to the teleportation point.

Volt followed him from the ship and carefully made sure to only step where he had stepped. Belle Reve was a modern marvel was built in the crappiest area to make it as isolated as possible to prevent any accidents in case of an escape.

She looked at him and thought about how she wanted to finish the conversation that they were having before they were interrupted. She should give him her digits which was major break from all of the rules that she was given about secret identities. Oh, hell faint heart and fair maids.

Just before they got to the coordinates she pulled his hand and wrote down a series of digits. "Text me tonight if you feel like talking," she stammered out as she heard the sound of her heart in her ears.

He looked at his hand dumbfounded and nodded before they were teleported away.

Kaldur looked at the time on the holocomputer as he passed by. Where had it all gone? Usually, monitor duty was a pain. But, tonight his shift had passed by swiftly and pleasantly. He had gotten to talk about Atlantis and his mother. He hadn't open up to anyone else on the team about his life pre-hero. However, Volt seemed to be interested in Kaldur and not Aqualad.

He replayed the conversation back in his head as he walked down the hall and to his room. It was quite refreshing. She did not seem as if she wanted him to tell all of his secrets but she seem like she was willing to take him as he was. She was no pushover and it was clear that she didn't mind him as a person, but she detested being a part of the team. It was unlike the others who it seemed wanted him to be the perfect leader and not make mistakes.

She wasn't bad to look at either. Well, from what he could tell was left exposed from her uniform or as she liked to call them, loony pjs. He replayed the discussion she had with him a while back about how idiotic the costumes of some hero were. After listening to her argument, he was inclined to agree. Especially, given the fact that Black Canary and other female superheroes were in over glorified swim suit and he had to agree what woman in her right mind would choose to fly in a mini skirt. Some male superheroes needed wedgie checks more often. According to Volt, Plastic Man's junk was stretchable too because it was the only logical explanation for why he never fell out of his costume and it was that ability that made him such a popular superhero. It made him thankful that his own king had seen fit to allow him to develop his own costume. As it was, he couldn't look at Plastic Man without the urge to checking out his junk.

He held up his hand and looked at the number. It was a definite taboo to allow himself to get to know her true identity he thought as he picked up his phone and typed in the digits and saved her into his contacts. He was still on the fence about contacting her, but hopefully he would come to a decision soon.

He placed his phone on the nightstand next to his modified sleeping chamber which looked like a giant aquarium. It had been specifically built for him to accommodate his Atlantean body. Although he could go without having to submerge daily, it had been decided by Batman that his bed was necessary for him to be in peak condition for all missions. His phone on the bed and walked off to take a shower.

Earla ported back to her aunts HQ and looked around. After assessing that she was definitely alone, she allowed her mind to wonder. What if he'd thought that her giving out the information was too personal? What if he decided that he didn't want to go on with talking to her? She allowed her thoughts to wander to the most catastrophic thoughts she could muster. Whoa, she definitely needed to get home and to drown herself in work before she drove herself stark raving crazy with all of the second guessing she was currently doing.

She changed out of her clothes and walked to the bus stop and hopped on the bus and headed home. Hopefully, it would all sort it out.

Her dad was on the couch in a drunken haze. She closed the door, sat her bags on the floor, and walked over to the couch roused him from his sleep. She manhandled him down the hall to his bedroom and mad sure that his head was facing down off the bed. She peaked in on her brothers who were fast asleep. She moved back into the kitchen and curled her lip and in disgust at the kitchen. Obviously, her sister had been too busy to come home and do her part of the house work.

Earla shook her head and gather dishes from the table and put them on the counter next to the sink. She then proceeded to fill the sink with the right combination of soap and started to clean the dishes. She let the rhythm of washing dishes to let her mind wander. Where the heck, could her sister be it was almost midnight! By the time she was finished with cleaning the dishes and wiping off the counters she had worked herself up into a good temper. She noticed that little blue sparks were flying. Great, just what I needed. She could hear the new announcer. Today tragedy struck as unknown girl dies in apparent dishwashing accident.

She stalked up the hallway back to the living room she was too keyed up to attempt sleep, so she started in on cleaning the living room. By the time she made it to sweeping up the floor, Sari walked into the door.

"Sup, sis," Sari greeted pushing her braids off her shoulder as she stood up from putting her book bag on the floor.

"Mind telling me where you've been and what you've been up to?" Earla asked in a clipped tone.

"Nothing," came the lazy reply from Sari, "just the usual hanging out with Levi."

"So, that's the reason you couldn't bother to watch the boys?" Earla spat back.

"Hey, who died and made you mom?" Sari shot back heatedly. "They are old enough to come home, lock the door, and not answer it."

"What about the house?" Earl shot back with just as much force. "This place looked like a tornado hit it when I came home."

"Don't care, I ain't the maid. In case you haven't noticed, I ain't here all that much," Sari quickly replied. "And in the future, I don't plan to be." Earl looked at her skeptically. "I just came for my stuff and then I'm outta here for keeps."

"What about...," Earl started.

"Ain't my problem," interrupted Sari as she moved past Earla and down the hall. Earla followed in a rush of speed. "As long as I keep in school, who's gonna notice the difference? Dad not likely. Aunt Mari, she only gives a crap about herself. The Bros they'll get over it soon enough."

"Well, what about leaving me to deal with all of this?" Earla replied lamely as they walked into their shared bedroom.

"You don't understand. I'll be eighteen in a month and I plan to elope then," Sari stated as she moved about the room putting things into a bag she had pulled from the closet. "I'd rather live my life on my choices than on the choices of the others this place is choked by the past and I am past it. Look, I am leaving and I don't want my last memory of us in this house to be a fight. Please sis, be pleasant." Earla looked at her sister she seemed sincere in her want for a peaceful parting. She reached for Sari and pulled her into a fierce hug.

"If that douche ever treats you bad, I'll castrate him," Earla whispered fiercely into Sari's ear. Sari broke the hug and walked back down the hallway to the living room.

"Anything that is left feel free to claim. I'll still be around if you need help," Sari promised as she open the door and walked outside to meet Levi.

Earla walked over to the door slid the bolt and night latch into place and trudged down the hallway to her room. She grabbed her shorts and shirt from the drawer and took what had to be the quickest shower of her life and went to bed. Tomorrow, definitely had to be better.

The evil time baron ran at six o'clock and Earla reached out and zapped it just for kicks. Though it was tempting to snuggle back under the perfectly warm blankets, the last thing she wanted to do was take the public bus to school. Morning buses were horrible. They were full of people going to work with nasty attitudes from under fed caffeine addictions. She drugged herself out of bed and down the hallway to wake up her brothers.

After making sure at least one of them was up and plugging up the iron in the laundry room, she plodded back into her room and pulled on her uniform and then, she walked to the dryer and prayed that her brothers still had a clean shirt each. She pulled the two shirts, ironed them, and handed them off. Thankfully, they could eat breakfast at school. Checking to be sure that they had everything, she sent her youngest brother in to wake up their dad. Hearing the familiar grunt of his wakefulness, she gathered the last of her supplies, shoved a pack of paper and pencils in each of her brother's book bags, and hustled them out of the door just in time to see the bus turn the corner on their street.

"Morning Mr. Jeremy," Earla greeted as she walked down the aisle to her seat. The ride to school would take them about fifteen minutes in regular traffic and twenty if it was a little heavy which would give her enough time to complete her homework for math and English. She could do her history and science homework in English after she was finished with her practice exercises. Her grades were no longer the pristine all A's that she had once been known for but she was maintaining solid an A and B average. She had history and English and figured that the other classes she could pull Bs in and be fine. She remembered that she hadn't given her brothers money for concession and pulled out two dollars for each of them and passed it into their hands.

She smiled as Marion came onto the bus.

"Hey, did you hear what happened at the basketball game last night?" she asked. Earla gave her a puzzled look so Marion continued on. "Apparently Kay had been stepping out with Mike and he confronted her in the stands. It was brutal." Earla was shocked those two had been dating since junior high and it was rumored that they were engaged. She was out of the loop and she missed the loop.

Marion continued updating her on all of the events that she had missed thanks to her training with her aunt. "Are we still on for another round of movies Sunday?"

"You better believe it!" Earla practically yelled. The both laughed at her enthusiasm. The bus pulled up to the elementary school and she moved to allow her brothers to exit.

"Don't forget; wait for me after school today." They knew the routine, but she had to be sure. Today, there was not a scheduled practice with Volt, so she was taking advantage of the free time. Earla scooted over to allow Marion a space beside her as they continued to talk about the goings on at the school. Marion was just regaling her with the pants incidents of Charles when the bus pulled into to school. They got off and walked to the cafeteria grabbed breakfast and ate as they walked to class.

"Hey, let's finish the gossipfest during morning break," Marion suggested.

"Can't I am behind on my project for science and need the time to print out some resources. Wanna come?" Earla responded. She couldn't afford to wait to the last minute to start anything. She didn't know if she would have the time to make things work.

"Well I might as well, seeing as you're going to be responsible and all," Marion sulked as they parted for their classes. Mrs. Vaughn was writing the bell assignment on the bored. Crap! she had forgotten about the test today. Great she groaned. This was going to be the start of a great day!

Kaldur woke up from his rest and immediately looked at his phone on his nightstand. One of the best things about the sleeping chamber was the fact that it was filled with sea water and was deep enough to allow him to float freely just like when he was at home. Should he or shouldn't? On the one hand, it would be nice to have someone to actually talk about things, but on the other, it was against the rules for them to have contact with someone's true identity. It was a major show of trust and he didn't know if he was ready for that. Oh well, he thought he should get out of the bed and just get his day started. He would come to a decision later after he had given his brain time to process all of the possibilities of such a relationship. Yes, he though, that was best. He floated to the bottom and used the force to jump out of the tank onto the ground. He walked into the bathroom to dry off and put on his civis and get to his school work.

He walked down to the kitchen grabbed some cereal for breakfast and then made his way down the hallway to the library. Like Connor and M'gann he was enrolled in a virtual high school. In fact, they were all in the same class which was beneficial since it allowed them to collaborated on many of the projects. Usually, the three of them would be in the library in the mornings working on their individual class assignments or attending a virtual lecture presentation from the teacher.

Batman had stated that for the three of them, Connor, M'gann, and Kaldur, it would be advantageous to enroll in high school courses so that they would become more familiar with technology and social behavior. Connor was a clone and often did not know how to deal with his feeling. He often went from indecision to rage within a few seconds. While M'gann was the complete opposite; she was overly cheerful. While he was more familiar with the more formal style of interactions that took place in Atlantis, it was a good way for all of them to learn how to gradually interact with people.

He settled down to the computer and started on his lesson for the day. He pulled up the start screen and looked at the objectives for the language arts lesson for today. They were learning about different types of irony. This was interesting, he thought, sarcasm always had a way of flying over his head if he wasn't careful. Some of the comments that Robin and Kid Flash made often went over his head. The lesson went on to talk about the three major types of irony and how the reader could tell the difference between them without verbal cues that were given for sarcasm.

The virtual school was perfect for the type of work they were doing. It allowed them to spend more time on the things that interested them and allowed flexibility in scheduling as long as they met the required 26 weekly hours to meet the daily attendance requirements it was fine.

Classes were not all work the lessons were a combination of media, live presentation and chat discussions. The actual exercises came later at the end when they were learning to master the skill. The teachers were extremely nice and helpful. He had called Mr. Jay when he had trouble figuring out the difference between clauses and phrases. They had set up a one on one chat session to give him the extra time that he needed. Thankfully, math was not as hard a language because it did not require any conjugation. He just did the work in Atlantean numerals and translated the numbers.

Thorough the online webmail system which only students of the school could access, he could contact other students. He had amassed a group of online friends to which he could chat with about the lessons for the day or set up to meet during the field trips that were scheduled during the year. The trips were a great opportunity to interact with people on a nonworking basis. Though he could only make it to one, probably, if the world was not in a crisis.

The field trip that he was attempting to take was to the Metros Gardens in Gotham. It was billed as one of the premier gardens in the nation. It spanned more than 250 acres and was home to some of the world's leading plant laboratories which was why it was often a target of Poison Ivy. Most of the land was originally owned by one family but was purchased by the city to create a zoo and botanical garden. The garden was actually a collection of 50 different gardens and plant collections. The different gardens included a 50 acre track of never logged old growth forest which contains trees more than two centuries old.

The field trip was designed around two specific exhibitions. The first was the Edible Garden Exhibit which would show you how to easily grow a vegetable garden that would be anyone friendly to beginning gardeners. The second was the one that he was far more interesting Plants and Fungi. It would focus on the research being conducted by scientist at the labs and would include photographs, diagrams, unusual plant specimens, and artifact from explorations in remote locations. They would also feature ten current research projects from the study of mosses and lichen to Brazil nuts and vanilla orchids.

As he finished the last of his assignments he looked up and notices that it was time to log off and have lunch. He stood up and walked to the kitchen and fixed him a sandwich. Now that he was unoccupied his brain once again turned to the problem of Volt. He was still up in the air about which way he should decide. If he decided to wait too long, she might get offended. Great, he though, just what he needed an upset teammate. Volt was not scheduled to come into training today which would give him more time to make up his mind.

He cleaned up after himself and headed to the training room to meet with Black Canary for his training. Although he was still under the tutelage of Aquaman, Black Canary provided training for the entire group and he was no exception. Canary was a good teacher and he had learned much under her and combined the training from both were shaping him to be a hero his mom could be proud.

He kept that though in his head has his back met the mat for what was probably the first of many for the training session.

A/N: I am sorry for the wait, but I am proud to announce that I completed my Master's Thesis and received my MA (takes a bow). The stuff that you recognize from the back story came from Wikipedia. I looked at this story and realized that I had not updated in a year. OHN, I will finish this story by the end of May and take this extra long chappy as a treat. The gardens are actually the New York Botanical Gardens which is on my list of places to visit. This year I am attempting to grow a real veggie garden! (Holds up my one cucumber from last year proudly.)

Any feedback would be welcomed.


	3. Chapter 3

"Chime" came the final echo of the last bell of the day. That could have gone better Earla thought as she walked out into the hall and waited for Marion to come to walked to the buses. While she waited, she looked at the graded paper in front of her. Man, her grades were going the path of Operation Typhoon. If she didn't pull up her graders, Aunt Mari was going to freak.

"I can't believe that Gordon, actually had the nerve to ask Jaxon out!" exclaimed Marion as she walked up beside her.

"Ewww, I can't believe that she said yes. He tosses the serious creepiness," Earla replied.

"You still haven't forgiven him for bringing Felix to show and tell. Just because people have pet spiders doesn't make 'em creepy."

"No, what makes 'em creepy is when people bring said spiders to school without prior notice for people who have delicate constitutions. Face it, they make a cute couple"

" I agree they are cute in that Drew Barrymore and David Arquette coupley way and face it you hate bugs."

"Spiders are arachnids. A legion of insects so horrible they need their own classification. Did you see the size of that monster? It's plotting to take over the world." Earla stated as they got on the bus.

"So, ya gonna be able to hang this Saturday or what?" Marion asked as she took the seat by the window.

"Round up the usual suspects. I have no plans for the weekend." Which was kinda unusual, normally her aunt had a list of Saturday things for her to do. She watched as Gordon got on to the bus and sat down a few rows in front of them and pulled out a book. He was just the same as he always was a bit geeky, but not hard core Magic the Gathering and Full LARPing geeky. He was him all the same with his short black Mohawk. He needed to get the sides trimmed again.

"You sure?" Marion asked oblivious to what was happening a few seats in front of her. The boys behind him started to pull on his polo collar and were harassing him and that was pissing her off.

"IDK, my aunt typically has a full Mussolini on me but, this weekend she didn't schedule a thing for Saturday. So, I think I can pull a Burton and be okay." She looked around and noticed that they were timing the attacks so the driver couldn't see that could work to her advantage. She just needed to distract Marion. "What do you have to eat?"

"Ummm, let me check." Marion began digging in her purse and book bag. With Marion occupied, she looked around and when no one was looking, formed a tiny bolt and shot at the leader.

"Ouch, what the hell dude." Jerkwad one yelled bringing up his hand to his neck. She was worried that she had over powered a bit. There was a gross patch of inflamed skin had formed on his neck. Might have over powered it a bit. His boys forgot about picking on Gordon and instead attempted to help their leader sooth his irritated skin.

"I have a pickle." Came Marion's reply as she pulled it from her bag.

"Pickle?" Earla was not looking at her directly but checked to make sure that everyone was oblivious. What had gotten into her? Hanging around the Meta's were definitely giving her a hero complex. She hadn't killed the guy, so that was a plus.

"You don't like pickles?" Marion asked. Earla was looking at the skin on Jerkwads neck making sure that she hadn't over powered the jolt of electricity and that it would not cause second or third degree burns. While here aim had improved, her control was still crappy and she usually over powered most of the bolts that she shot.

"No, I worship pickles. At home, I have a jar of pickles on the mantle with rose scented incense and a glass of wine next to it." Earla countered as she reached for the pickle. She didn't really want it but she opened the pack and began to much on the the pickle. "In fact, I am thinking of starting a cult dedicated to the joys of pickles."

"Called what Great Gherkins?" Marion giggled.

"Of course not called something French for pickle. Everything sound better in French and it sounds exotic. Le Peakal dedicated to bringing enlightenment one pickle at a time. The Holy Brine is only to be used for pickles on the holy days." Earla and Marion both giggled with that final exclamation she stood to get off the bus as it arrived at the elementary school. She located her brothers and walked down to the city bus stop and boarded the bus to the library where she worked part-time.

"So, you two do well today?" Earla was concerned that their grades were going the way of hers down and down fast. Maybe she should do more studying while she was at the library today.

"Yup, I had all of my homework today and didn't have to stay in at break. Do you want the rest of your pickle?" Alex asked reaching for the pickle. She was only to happy to hand over the pickle to him.

"What about you?" Brian shrugged his shoulders. "That's not an answer."

"No problems. I had my work and scored a B on my math test today." Brian smirked.

"Those sound like reasons to get to the park tomorrow to me." She saw both of them smile and the bus pulled up and they boarded.

She sat her brothers in their usual place and went to the desk and rolled the book cart to the stacks. Her life had really changed over the last few week. Her worries had changed from the latest party and gossip to trainings and meetings.

Her thoughts drifted to Sari and she could barely suppress the anger that came. She pulled a breath in and allowed the anger, hurt, and betrayal felt to come forth. Then, Sari expected Earl to cover for her. She sat the last book on the shelf looked over at her brothers and grabbed the dusting cloth to dust the decorations and then to get the vacuum to clean then entrance. She then went to the help the main desk and checked to see if they needed extra help.

After making sure that she had all of the administrative task done, she went down to the help desk where she was assigned and pulled out her history notes. She had a clear view of the boy and begin to study. Getting up at every half hour to check the return book cart at the end of aisles and checking in books in the return bin. After she had checked the boys homework, she gave them their cards to go to the computer room for an hour to play. They mostly played on games and watched movies. It wasn't hard work but by the time for her to get off at six p.m. she was ready to go. She called to the boys and they walked out the door to the bus stop.

They walked from the bus stop to their house. Dad's car was in the drive-way along with Auntie's SUV was here as well. That was odd. Earla knew for a fact that Auntie Mari was on a shoot and a covert mission to check out gun smugglers in the small African nation Togoland. She readied herself just in case this was a trap before she walked in the front door. She breathed in relief as she saw it was her father and her aunt's housekeeper Mrs. Summers.

"Hey, honeybee where is your sister?" her dad asked. He sounded like he used to. It wasn't her aunt but the housekeeper who worked at her aunts house, Mrs. Summers.

"She is out with friends and said she would be home later," came Earla's reply. Please don't ask me where she is exactly Earla thought.

"I had hoped to have this speech only once, but I am -," he took a breath of air and continued "Earla this situation is not fair to any of us. You, your sister, or the boys. I need help. I have got to get myself cleaned up and I am not at a place where I am able to provide for you and your brothers properly."

Earla took in a breath, this was not happening. They were doing fine. Sure, he was drunk half, ok most of the time he was home, but they were getting by. They had food and none of the utilities were threatened. Now, it made sense why Mrs. Summers was here.

"So, your dumping us?"Earla spat back.

"Its not like that. I have decided to go to get myself cleaned up and enrolled in an intensive course to treat my alcoholism. However, the program that I am going to is intensive. I will stay nightly at the facility and attend therapy sessions. I need this time to deal with my addition. I'll still go to work but they work around my schedule. Work and therapy that is going to be my life for a while," he said as he handed her a brochure to the residential treatment center.

"Fine, when do we leave for the orphanage?" Earla spat. How could he abandon them? She was doing just fine managing all of he work herself.

"You will go as soon as you pack. I need to report to the assigned house by nine. Mrs. Summers will take you to your aunts house and you will stay there until I complete the program. We will all come back here tomorrow to officially close up and for you to get any last things. " Earla nodded her head stiffly and stomped down the hall.

Earla looked around the bed room and pulled out a duffel bag from her closet. He had know for days, typical. She was the last to know anything, but had to be the responsible one.

The bag was a leftover from when she had played on one of the city sports teams. She pulled into it her uniforms for school, favorite jeans, socks, lounge pants, t-shirts and a grabbed stack of underwear. She looked around the room and pulled a few books into her book bag, and grabbed the laptop and stuffed it in there as well. Anything she forgot, she would get it tomorrow.

"I'm ready," she announced walking back into the living room. Her dad nodded and she looked and saw Mrs. Summers coming down the hall with her brother with their things in tow. Mrs. Summers guided them out to the car and dad hugged the boy and Earla crossed her shoulders.

As the small SUV pulled out of the dive way, she pulled out her phone and texted Marion and Sari. The replies from them gave her comfort. Marion promised to come over tomorrow to help her sort and pack up. Sari texted for her to cover. She sent them okays back. They pulled up into the drive way and got out.

"Earla, you know which room is yours. Boys come with me," Mrs. Summers commanded.

Earla walked into the room that was hers and put her bags down. She looked around the room her aunt had set aside for her. There was a bed, desk, and dresser. Then she saw the main reason she was given this room. It had access to the balcony outside for when she need to make a quick exit. Her training was kicking off. This place would make training easier. It was closer to her aunt's base and she would have less of a walk. She exited and went to the kitchen. Mrs. Summers was already there setting things out on the counter. Earla walked over to help.

"The boys will be here in a little, but I thought that you and I needed to get a few things out of the way." Early arched one eyebrow and Mrs. Summers continued. "First, I am not a replacement parent. All major decisions need to go through your dad or aunt. Second, I expect all of the normal rules to apply. You are to keep your room clean and help out with chores that are assigned." Earla nodded everything sounded reasonable to her. "Last, I know all about the extra training you and your aunt are doing in the caves."

"How?"

"Your aunt of course. You're going to need someone who is going to be able to cover for you. I got the boys. You focus on the training." Mrs. Summers ended just as the boys walked into the kitchen. Summers led them in grace and everyone fixed their plates and moved to the table to eat.

"Your aunt has also enrolled you all in karate classes that will start next week," announced Mrs. Summers. The boys were excitedly talking about the news, but Earla narrowed her eyes as the housekeeper smiled. That sneaky wench was sneaking in training. That was going to have to be discussed the next time she saw Auntie Mari.

After the meal, the boys were asked to help clean up and Earla was dismissed to her room. She was due for practice in an hour. She dug out her uniform, changed, grabbed her phone, and left for the Mount Justice.

"Its just you and me, Volt. Get started on the warm-ups and meet me when your finished," Black Canary announced over the intercom. Earla headed to the Mission Room to start on her practice.

Earla walked into the mission room and looked at Black Canary glaring at the holocomputer's screen.

"Do you need me to help?" Earla asked.

"Nope, I plan to stare down the thing into submission," Black Canary sparked back. "Besides the last time I attempted to reroute a problem. Red Tornado had to reinstall a few fireboard, keywalls, firewalls." Earla looked and made no attempt to help. Vixen was a twelve o'clock flasher. There was no hope.

"J'onn this thing is busted I cannot pull up the file that shows me the training schedule for Volt." Canary called into her communicator. "I pressed F4 and the num lock key and the thing started freaking out on me."

"I am taking over your screen and pulling up the file."

"Thanks J'onn. I owe you." Vixen started to review the different exercises Volt had ran. She smile. Earla saw that smile and knew that meant only one thing. Sparing.

The computer called out her aunt's number and Vixen walked over into the Mission Room and looked at Earla.

"Later, after I have finished with Canary," Vixen nodded. He aunt nodded and walked over to the side to wait.

"Go through the simulator practice on your throws and grapples with the bots. I need to talk to you aunt and I'll be there in a second," Canary walked over to her aunt and they started to talk. Earla was grateful for the extra time. Several scenarios were working in her head as she thought about what was going to happen. The two older super's talks ended and Canary walked over and they started to practice.

"What is rule one of hand to hand?" Vixen asked as she threw the first punch.

"Control the fight," came Earla as she ducked the first punch and attempted to kick out Vixen's legs. "If your reactive and not active, your opponent controls the fight."

"Good, and-," Canary replied jumping to avoid the sweep and countering with a punch of her own.

"You want to have the upper hand and a clear head," came Earla as she grabbed Vixen arm and used he momentum of her punch to throw her.

"Excellent," Vixen said as she used the throw to cut a flip and combo to get a hold and throw Volt. "Again." The session continued with various hold and practicing on the outside wrist lock. The entire time her aunt stood by patiently waiting it was getting on her nerves. Her practice ended and Vixen walked up and handed her a bottle of water.

"I'm gonna go over to the computer and analyze the results." Canary waved off and headed to the holocomputer to analyze the rules of the practice.

"You sure you should let her work the computer by herself?" Earla gestured to Canary.

"She'll be..., hold hold on while I check to make sure. Hey, Canary you need some help?" Vixen called walking over to the computer. Canary was glaring daggers as the machine by the time Vixen walked over. After she had gotten Canary settled with the data to analyze, Vixen walked back to her niece.

"Have you gotten settled in?"

"Yep," clipped Earla.

"No, problems? Questions?"

"Nope."

"Can I get more than a one word answer."

"Eventually."

"This is going to be for the better. Even you have got to admit that you dad needs to get help." Earla nodded an walked off the training floor and into the kitchen. He aunt didn't get it she was abandoned by her dad. She knew that he needed help but it still hurt. It was like loosing mom all over again. She drew a breath and regained her composure. Just in time too. He aunt walked into the kitchen.

"Mrs. Summers called. You sister still hasn't showed up."

"She will," Earl snapped hoping not to give away her guilt or role in the cover up.

"Could you text her and tell her that she has until midnight to report to the house or I will put out a hunting party and you know which one." Earla blinked and imaged Vixen not Auntie Mari searching for Sari. She nodded. A small part of her smiled at the thought of her sister being brought in by a member of the League. "I'll be at home this weekend for a full discussion of everything this weekend."

"Speaking of everything, karate classes?"

"It appears Mono Mona has learn to string multiple words to form a sentence with correct structure and syntax." Vixen countered not at all intimidated by the glare from her niece. "The classes are to get you up to par with the others here. If you hadn't notice, you, Connor, and M'gann are the weakest links because of you inexperience and lack of training. They have an advantage over you in that they are here daily and can be trained constantly to improve their skills. However, you have to compensate for that and get training where you can."

"Teacher a friend of yours?"

"Nope," Vixen said with a smile and Earla relaxed, "of Canary's? It's actually a dojo full of master's who have come here from Japan to relax for a few month before they head back and I have graciously provided them a house to stay in return for martial arts lessons." Great Earla thought someone one who had the same tendencies as Canary.

"I suppose that I have special lesson at the same time but in a different class than the boys."

"Of course," Vixen smiled, " you are going to be learning a crash course of karate before being moved on to weapons training. You will have training six days a week for two hours daily during the week and four hours on Saturday. You can have Sundays off for resting."

"What about my job at the library? What about my nonexistent friendships?"

"You only work a few days a week. Classes can easily be scheduled around you job if you want to keep it. As for your friends, you will find the time to hang out with them."

"I made plans this weekend."

"Your training won't interfere with it this week. Classes don't start until Monday. You'll still have plenty of time on Saturdays anyway."

"What time does class start on Saturdays?" Earla asked not liking the smile in her aunts eye.

"Six a.m."

The woman was a sadist Earla thought. Why else would she suggest that she go to a class that early in the morning. Hold on that was four hours in the morning. Oh hell, she was gonna die. Maybe she should look up epitaphs when she got home.

"I also wanted to talk to you about joining me on my patrol of the city this weekend."

"Seriously?" Earla squeaked she wasn't sure she was ready to face the world as she was now not with what was happening. Lately, she had taken to watching the news and she saw the power some of the Metas possessed. It was insanely scary to even think about facing that kind of power.

"Yep, while you are not ready for full combat, it is best for you to start to get to know the lay of the city so you can do patrols, or handle any threat that comes to the city." Vixen smiled. "We'll talk fully later. I have got to get back to the investigation. I almost have enough evidence to bust the smugglers." She walked over and hugged Earla.

The computer called out the numbers of Kaldur, Superboy, Ms. M, and Red Tornado. She moved from the kitchen to the hanger to hear Black Canary take Superboy and M to the Medical bay for a check up. Kaldur was talking to Red Tornado and tilted his head in greeting when he saw her. He finished and walked over t her.

"I take it that the mission was a success," Earl gesturing walking towards the kitchens.

"Yes, the prison was successfully returned to the proper control. The only prison to escape was The Riddler," Kaldur followed went to the kitchen grabbed a two drinks but instead of sitting down gestured towards a hallway. "Superboy and Ms. M have officially declared their intentions to date."

"That is not surprising. Those two were dancing around each other for a while," Earla wondering why they were stopping at a wall. Kaldur reached for a hidden panel in the rocks that led outside to a outcropping of rock where the ocean was lapping on the side of the mountain.

"Indeed, their situation had made me realize something. I have no life outside of the team. While I am happy here on the team. I have not experienced the life that the others have. I am always on duty even when I do go back to Atlantis. I do not fit in with others of my age group we have grown apart. I am existing not living. I want you to teach me how to blend in and help me develop my alter ego." Kaldur walked out to the rocks and sat down. Earla nodded.

"Kaldur, I would be happy to help you to adopt an alter ego. In order to do that, you will need to come and hang out with me and my friends. You do realize that I would have to be trusted with your alter ego. "

"Yes, unlike the others I am not going to attend a regular school. It is too much of an inconvenience for a year. I already have a name I just need the experience." He pushed a small charm on his shoulder and activated something. His hair changed to black and his tattoos and webbed fingers were gone. Man, the boy was fine. "Jackson Hyde, its nice to meet you." Then, held out his hand.

"Earla Williams, nice to meet you Jackson." She took a breath, pushed back her mask, and shook his hand. Regardless of what happened later, this was going to entertaining.

A/N: The pickel shrine was borrowed from Gilmore Girls and the rest came from my brain. Alas, it is June before I am updating.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Wanna meet on Saturday in front of the Treme Center next to Armstrong Park. You still got my number." She got up from the rocks and walked back through the door.

"Yes, sounds good to me." Figuring he would look up the layout of the park and choose a good location to teleport.

"I'll text you the time when I get with my friends." She moved grabbed her bag and teleported back to her aunt's HQ. She quickly pulled out her phone and texted Sari about what her aunt said about reporting, hoping she would take the warning.

She then shot quick texts to Sari, Marion, and Creek.

She was about to go when she noticed a scooter and motorcycle with a note. These are for personal and mission transport after you have been trained. She was going to have wheels for transportation and not have to rely on buses. That sneaky beast had given her only two wheeled transport. So, she couldn't have a car load of people. So, what she was going to have wheels. She let the smile come to her face as she placed the note in her pocket and closed up. It had been getting embarrassing knowing that the thirteen year olds on the team could drive and she couldn't.

Marion and Creek hand responded and sounded if they couldn't wait to meet the Jackson. They hadn't hung out in the quarter in while and it was always good to show a newb around the Quarter. Sari still hadn't responded.

She came to the house and let herself in and walked up the hidden stairway to her balcony. She wasn't surprised to see Mrs. Summers.

"Where is Sari?" Earla shrugged at the question. "You don know or won't tell."

"Both."

"She needs to be here now. Its after way past decent." Earla crossed her arms and saw Mrs. Summers narrow her eyes. "Not a snitch. Okay, I'll make a deal you tell you sister she has till supper to report." The last of the threat was unnecessary.

Frraga, Earla pulled her phone and sent rapid fire text to Sari to meet her at school at the end. She waited but still no reply from her sister. Maybe she could meet the next morning and hash out a plan, or hopefully, just coming to the house and putting in an appearance.

The next morning after she was dropped off at school by Mrs. Summers Earla hung out by the tables hoping to catch her sister. She saw her and was furious.

"Why didn't you respond back to my text?" Earla shot off waiting to hear the explanation for brushing off the text.

"Busy, so what does Lurch want anyway?" Looking at nails before pulling out a small mirror from her purse.

"Basically, she wants your butt at the house by dinner or she is going to report you as a missing child." Earla reported as she watched her sister fool with her bangs and shake them in an attempt to style them.

"She can't do that I am grown and she can't and won't boss me, okay." Sari spat and continued to play with her bangs until she was satisfied.

"Tell her yourself, I ain't you're pony picks us up from school. Just meet me and get in the car." Earla shot back.

"Fine, I'll tell Geoffery, I'll report for dinner." Sari picked up the phone and shot a text to Mrs. Summers.

With that handled, Earla headed to her first period class and saw Marion and Creek in the hallway.

"So, who's the new guy and is hot?" Marion asked in a rush as she grabbed her books for the morning classes.

"He is sufficiently crushable." Earla replied ignoring the eye rolling that Creek bestowed on them.

"So, how did you meet this guy anyway?" Creek asked as he helped Marion wrangle he locker close. Earla started on the cover story about meeting him at the library when he was looking for a book for a report as they walked to class. She told them his parents had moved to the city a few months ago and he hadn't time to meet any new people because he was home schooled because of his parent's schedule.

"He sounds like my kind of man. Trekkie or Warsie?" Earla shrugged at Creek's question as she went into first period.

After the last bell of the day, Earla walked to the pick up area and became anxious when she didn't see her sister. She saw Mrs. Summers pull up and breath a sigh of relief when she saw her sister saunter out and walk to where she was standing.

"I want this to be brief. I have arranged for someone to come and pick me up later." Sari whispered to Earla as the car pulled up.

"Hello girls, your dad is picking up the boys to give us a little more time at the house." Mrs. Summers greeted as they entered the vehicle and fastened the seat belts. "Earla has already heard the speech. But...," came the familiar speech about what was and wasn't expected. Earla clenched her shoulders as she waited for Sari's reaction.

"Listen, Lady I am just putting in an appearance so my aunt and you will get off my back." Sari rolled her eyes and shot back. "This ain't for a long time show. In fact, I've got things to do later." Earla waited to see how Mrs. Summers was going to play it.

"I don't think you understand. Either you play by the rules of the house until you graduate or you'll be taken away and put into a lovely boarding school until you graduate. So, basically its your choice, cooperate or not either way. I don't care. I ain't the one you gotta address. This is just a job and I follow the orders given." Earla didn't miss the subtle way Mrs. Summers shifted in her seat. Yep, she had the tell of someone who had just assessed her opponent and was gearing up to restrain physically. They pulled up into the street parked and got out. Dad's car was already here and they knocked and opened up the door to the house. Dad was in the living room and he was solemn.

"Earla take Mrs. Summers to your room your sister and I need to have a talk." Old school dad was back and from the scowl he was mad as fire.

"...you're seventeen...life away..." came the parts of the conversation Earla could hear. From the sound of it Sari was given the riot act.

"Its...," came the muffled reply. Earla grabbed a bag and handed it to Mrs. Summers. She then went in the closet and pulled out of a few more things and looked for something appropriate to wear for a tour of the Quarter. Pulled out a few of my dressier tops, and a dress, and few pairs of shoes.

"So, do you have to go out for tonight?" Mrs. Summers took the stuff and put it into a bag.

"Yes, but its just a review session to go over the good and bad of the last mission." Earla looked at a few of the books and handed them to her and pulled a poster off he wall. The heard Sari as she stamped down the hall to the room. Mrs. Summers shooed Earla out of the room as she dealt with her sister. Earla walked walk down the hall to check on her brother and helped them pull their bags in the living room. Her dad walked into the room and she gave him a weak smile.

"Forgiven me huh? " Earla shrugged and he smiled back. "Mrs. Summers told me that you are still doing well in school and have been keeping up with the schedule your aunt has set for you. Keep it up." Earla nodded as they watched Sari and Mrs. Summers emerge from the room.

Sari was silent as they piled into the car and didn't say anything until they pulled up into the driveway.

"Earla can you go check on the crockpot and make toast, boys you go set the table and empty the dishwasher, Sari come with me to your room."

Earla checked the stew and cut off the machine and pulled out the bread to make toast. She buttered the bread and watched her brothers complete their task.

Sari came in and offered to help and whispered, "Not over by a long shot." She grabbed the mitt from Earla and took out the toast. Mrs. Summers led them in grace and plates were fixed and the meal was eaten along with tales of what happened today. When the meal was finished, Sari was told to rinse and put the dishes in the machine. Earla and her brothers were dismissed to do their homework. The boys smiled and went straight to their room and shut the door. Earla heard a huff later and walked into the room to see if they needed help apparently Mrs. Summers had programmed the console to work between certain hours and limited the total amount of time. Not only that she had installed a filter on the internet that allowed them to access six educational sites that could be used for homework. They had no choice to do their homework.

She walked back to her room and completed her work and text Mrs. Summers that she was going out. She closed the door and changed and walked down the secret exit to the special tunnel that led out and went to the teleportation point.

Earla arrived in the cave and walked to the training room. Everyone was present except Robin. They computer called out the mission superheroe designation. She looked over and nodded at Kaldur and his slight nod let her know he would be talking to her later.

"First, we will work on targeting and accuracy. Volt you're with Artemis, Kaldur with Superboy, Robin with M'gann, and Kid Flash with Red Tornado." Canary pressed a button on the computer and targets appeared around the room. The teens moved into place according to groups.

"Okay, what do you know about shooting?" Artemis walked over to Earla.

"Um... bang," Earla pointed to a target and managed to hit the corner.

"I can see we are point to have to do a lot of work to do. When your aiming and you need to choose a style and you need to pick a way that you can aim and gain accuracy. Just shooting is not going to allow you to do that. Let's equate it with arrows. You need to aim down the arm and down the bolt you are going to shoot and you need to site your target and line it up. " Artemis finished and let go of the arrow and hit the bullseye. "Now you."

"By the way I saw that look." Artemis said as she let a few arrows go. Earla looked puzzled until she gestured towards Kaldur and Superboy. Earla shot her a smile.

"This is stupid when am I going to actually need to know how to shoot. I can handle anythings with my fist." Superboy threw the gun he was using towards the target.

"Yes, but your powers are still manifesting. You will need every advantage in your arsenal if you are to be a competent and skilled warrior. You cannot dismiss any thing that will give you an advantage in a battle." Kaldur calmly stated back as he picked up the gun and handed it back to him. They could here Superboy's huff as he took up the stance again and began firing. Earla sent Kaldur a glance and gave he gave a slight nod.

"I saw that, too."

"You saw nothing."

"Deny it now. It only makes your admission later better." Artemis smiled as they continued with practice. By the end of targeting practice, Earla could hit the target every time not the center of target but the paper.

Canary announced, "We will be working on surveillance and patrols. You will be divide up into teams of two an experienced hero with and inexperienced hero. M'gann you will be paired with Robin. Artemis you will be paired with Kid Flash. Kaldur you will be paired with Volt. This patrol is only for an hour only this city is fairly quiet and you shouldn't encounter anything too harmful. You are to teach your trainee how to scout and how to move without being seen."

"What about me?"Connor asked.

"You're sparing while Tornado monitors."

"You will work through comlinks for this mission. M'gann will link with you if necessary. Understood." They nodded and each took a different exit from the mountain. She and Kaldur too the ocean exit they had yesterday.

Patrols is what they called it. How about jogging with attitude. They had jumped over the tops of buildings and darted between alleyways. She had wanted to start a conversation but, the need for stealth was more important. So she had taken the chance to admire his butt as he ran. Man you could bounce a quarter off that thing. They came to a stop she watched as he pointed down. She looked at the ally below and there was a mugging in progress.

"You distract them and I'll sneak up." She nodded now how to form a good distraction. Her heart was thudding in her head what if she missed and hit the victims? What if the gun went off? She aimed like she practiced with Artemis. She had taken too much time and the perp was still threatening the victim for their money. She saw Kaldur emerge from the shadows, formed the water bearers into a whip, grabbed the gun and flipped the gun from his grasp. She had just resisted what happened. She had froze.

"How do you get past the fear the indecision?" Earla wondered he looked confident with attacking and she looked up and took a deep breath and released. "I was useless."

"The first time I was against something like this was in my first battle as my kings official assistant. I preformed just as you did. I froze." Kaldur stated as he sat beside her on the roof. "We were investigating a series of small robberies in the kingdom nothing large but it was concerning that a small amount of special coral used for the creation of tattoos used by the sorcery school was coming up missing." Earla looked at the marking on his arm and moved to touch, but pulled her hand back at the last minute. He pulled her hand put it on his arm and continued. "It was a small mission easily handle by authorities. but my king wanted to give me experience dealing with investigating. We followed the clues and located the group responsible. They were less than cooperative when confronted about their crime."

"What happened?" Earla asked the the tattoos on his arms were not smooth like regular tattoos but they were bumpy. She figured that was the coral he was talking about.

"My king was magnification. I froze with fear when the first miscreant pointed his weapon at me. Luckily, my king was watching me and threw the guy he was fighting on his teammate and yelled at me to get into the game. I unfroze and used what he had taught me." Earla's hand dropped from his arm as he finished.

"Yeah, it a lot different from training." Earla looked away. She realized that rubbing on his arm might not be the best of plans.

"Yes, with spars your partner will stop when they see you fall. In a fight, your opponent wants to cause you harm and will not stop when you fall. It is then that training proves invaluable." The communicator on his chest went off. "The time is up. You did good." They went back to the caves and Earla saw that there was a set up going on.

"Downtime and team bonding." Artemis said as she approached. "So, how was the mission?" with a waggle in her eye as she handed her a drink.

"Fine, yours." Earla smiled looking at Kid Flash.

"Fabulous, if non-stop talking are on the list. He kept running off and leaving me. We did stop a car thief and a drunk driver. So, not bad for a nights work. You?" Artemis led her to the lounge and sat on the couch.

"Well, the opposite of our obviously. We stopped a mugging. Well, K...Aqualad stopped a mugging. I stood by and looked like and idiot." Earla picking the spot beside Artemis sat down.

"Don't worry everybody freezes on their first time. It comes with the territory. I wonder what we're watching?"Artemis looked around and the others came in Kaldur came in and said beside her. Artemis noticed and smiled.

"Wildest Police Chase. Edutainment. Complete with bad puns and the best action." Kid Flash said as he started. Earla noticed the placement of everyone. Superboy and M'gann were on one end of the couch with Robin and Kid Flash sitting at the table with snacks. The video started and what came next was an hour of police chases, would be robbers, and crooks gone wild.

"Who comes up with these puns?" Earla giggled as the shows announcer let loose a pun about speed. "This has to be a record."

"The best writers in the business." Kid Flash mumbled through a mouthful of popcorn. Earla looked and thought I would hate to have to feed him on a daily basis.

"Holy crap that dude is bat crap crazy. He's going down the interstate at like seventy firing a gun over his head out the back of his truck." Robin laughed.

It had been a while since Earla had a time to relax and be around friends. These guys weren't so bad. Edutainment indeed. She had learned about proper driving techniques and found herself during the course of the video analyzing the behavior of the criminals and of the cops. She laughed and found that she was having a great time with Kaldur. He wasn't fully relaxed but he pointed out different things that could have improved. So, far they had argued about if you were going to get away from the cops how was the best method to get away. By the time for her to exit, she was reluctant to leave the fun.

"Well, it time for me to call it a night." Earla stood up.

"I'll walk you to the teleporter," Kaldur stepped up and walked her. "I have looked over the site for our meeting Saturday. I also have news." Earla looked at him expectantly. " Canary has given me the okay to give you vehicle training."

A/N: Umm, yeah not satisfied with it but its done.


	5. Chapter 5

Happier than a squirrel in a pecan tree, Earla bounced out of the transporter towards the changing area. She mentally cataloged the different things they could do for the meet up. So, distracted by her own thoughts she forgot about the bench that was in front of her and she had to put her hand out to stop herself from falling. Taken out by a bench not a good way to go Earla thought.

She pulled out her phone and sent a quick text to Mrs. Summers saying that she would be home soon and shot another text to Marion and Creek about giving the newbi a tour. She grabbled a towel and headed into the shower to wash off the groudy.

Exiting the shower she dried off, tugged on her black jeans and purple three-quarters shirt. She picked up her phone and noted that Mrs. Summers had replied back that she expected her in thirty. She grabbed her boots and looked for her bag. Marion and Creek had replied that it sounded good and they would hash details out tomorrow. She packed for home and grabbed the uniform and took a whiff and gagged. Hurriedly, she stuffed her uniform, which was on the wash it quickly list, into the bag and made her way out the building.

Walking down the sidewalk towards the bus stop, she assed the street. She would quickly glance at people as she walked by and attempted to recall as much information about them as she could. Guy male mid-thirties, no tan, brown hair wiry build red converses, blue jeans polo shirt left-handed. Favors right leg some type of injury. Female, early twenties, braids black hair, …She continued the game until she boarded the bus. She put on her headphones and picked the Red Badge of Courage from her playlist. There was going to be a quiz on chapters seven and eight tomorrow and she might as well use her time wisely even if it meant listening to Red Badge of Courage on audio cast.

Upon entering the house, she went straight to the kitchen and found that there was a leftover plate with her name on the counter along with a note. Earla smiled a few days ago she would have had to fend for her own food like a rabid bear. Mrs. Summers she thought was a godsend. She unwrapped the plate, put it into the microwave, and unfolded the note.

Earla this not is just a reminder that you are scheduled to work the library tomorrow afternoon. Catch the bus to the library and I will be over to pick you up at the end of the shift. Eat a light snack before going to work as we are going to visit you dad. Your training schedule for the next few nights is attached and you aunt would like a word about it with you later.—Summers

She moved to the fridge and grabbed a Chill Cola. The microwave chimed stop and she pulled the plate out, grabbed a spoon, and walked up the stairs to her room. Arriving in her room, she yanked over her book bag, pulled out her binder, and flipped through it for her assignments and notes as she ate.

Crap! Earla thought she how the heck had she forgotten that she had a report on the king snake due Friday. Well, at least she had to work the library tomorrow. She could take the notes and outline some of it tonight and grab a few books out of the school library in the morning and finish it during the day. She began to work on her math homework. After finishing up, she changed, and made her way to bed.

School had breezed by thanks to a morning assembly from a motivational speaker about making good choices. It was kinda interesting and it had got her out of English so it all worked out.

Earla trudged back to the hulking circulation desk and looked over the extensive checklist that the head librarian had left about setting up the meeting room for the local Author Night. It was one of the more popular events held in the library and allowed local authors to meet the community. She had gotten hooked on to several new authors from the meeting. School had breezed by today thanks to an assembly the speaker had talked about driving safety. Basically rules for the idiotically inclined. She sat at the computer to type in a new search.

"Cuse me where ah the magazine?" Earla looked up and did a double take the auburn hairs teen that asked the question stood a full head and a half above was built like a brick wall.

"The periodicals are located in the first sitting room to your left," Earla said gesturing to the room wondering why anyone would want to sport a small goatee like him.

"Thank yah kindly miss," said tilting his head as his bulky chest stretched the white t-shirt taunt as the moved towards the room she had indicated. She knew that she had seen him before but couldn't quite place where. Oh well, it would come to her later.

"You're welcome. Let me know if you need any help," she called as he continued on his way and she walked over to the book drop. Pulling the books out she sorted them according to call number on the filing cart.

Earla smiled with the memory of last night fresh on her mind. Vehicle training, which meant that she, was going to be driving something soon. She had to stop herself from pretending to be Snoopy on his doghouse driving an imaginary car. She placed the last of the books on the cart. She went back to the computer and continued to type on her report.

Although she grateful that she didn't have training today because once again she put off schoolwork, she missed interacting with the team. Her life had become a frenzied jumble of drilling, school, and work; she had almost nil downtime. Next week it was going to get more hectic because karate was going to be added into the mix. She was going to become a nutter she knew it she could read the headlines of the papers. Overwhelming, Overextension Cause Psychosis story continued on page five. She left to do the do the reshelving leaving the other assistant at the desk.

It amazed her how things had changed in a week. Last week she worried about her brothers and housekeeping. Now, she worried with keeping up with her schedule. Mrs. Summers was a boon that women possessed a sixth sense. Summers knew when Earla needed a break and provided cover Earla needed to part. Between keeping the bros busy and Sari occupied, her siblings didn't have the time to wonder what Earla was up to. She wondered though what exactly kind of work Mrs. Summers was in before she became the housekeeper. Earla smiled thinking about the epic battle between Summers and Sari. Summers refused to back down and Sari was as stubborn as a weed in a sidewalk. Putting the last book on she shelf she walked back to the front desk and pulled up the report that was due tomorrow.

The science teacher wanted everyone to pick an animal to do a report on and she had picked the king snake. How the hell had she managed to put off her report for the past week until the last possible moment again? She would never understand why she was a perfectionist procrastinator. She waited until the last moment and wanted to do everything perfectly. Nothing to do but to get finished and create a somewhat credible report and poster to go with it for presentation tomorrow she though. No sooner had she sat down than Mr. Periodical came back to the desk.

"Yah copy uh Bow and Arrah are out of date. So, whadda yah have new?"

"Let me check." Earla turned and did a search for hunting magazines. "Let see we have this months copy of Deer and Deer Hunter and Bowmaster."

He looked down as if contemplating something. "So, when are ya off?"

No way was he actually. "I get off in about thirty minutes."

"Doing anything?" He asked leaning down on the desk toward Earla in a attempted suave move that was really creepy.

"Have a meeting with my friends?" Earla countered. And thankful for it she thought.

"Shame. I was thinking that maybe you'd like ta sho me da town." He stated leaning in more and lowering his voice.

"And what gave you that impression?" Earla retorted curling her lip and raising her eyebrow.

"Just a hunch." He picked up a piece of scrap paper that was reserved for patrons to write down call numbers. "Call me if you every wanna take me on that tour. Name Baran"

"Baran, I got the info. Lets go ." An auburn haired girls in a short peach summer dress with a jean jacket and sandals said.

"See ya. I'll be looking forward to that tour." She was glad to see he followed the girl out of the door. Shook her head and started back typing on her report.

She smiled as she looked over the final wording of her report on the king snake and printed the report. Now that the report was done she switched over to more important things like planning what to do with Kaldur and the other for this weekend. It was going to be a group outing in the Quarter and she wanted to give him the dime tour. She was tempted to keep him in the quarter and save the Garden District for the next time they toured the city. Typing quickly on the computer she pulled up the list of happening. Oh… that was perfect. She pulled up the itinerary and smiled this would be great. She printed the list and went to check the stacks and made her final checks. Her phone buzzed. Mrs. Summers was outside.

Earla had forgotten that they were visiting her dad tonight. She trudged to Hilda and informed the older woman she was signing out. After getting the approval nod, Earla slogged to the computer, signed out for the night, and marched to the waiting vehicle.

Climbing into the SUV Earla waved at the occupants and asked "Can we stop and get something to eat? I'm hungrier Demmaumg."

"Nope, we are…," came Summers reply.

"But, I haven't had …," came Earla's protest.

"..eating with your dad at the center. The food is in the back," Summers finished.

Sari was riding up front with her mp3 in her ears nodding along with the music in her ears. They boys were in the back watching a video and coloring. Earla felt her eyes getting heavy…

—

Watching her mom buckle her brothers into the car.

"Mom I don't wanna go visit Grandma Jean," came the protest from a ten year old Earla. "There is nothing to do at her house."

"Your going no questions asked get your rear in this car and you are staying the weekend. You might not realize it now but it is important to build relationships with your elders." Came her mothers knowing answer. The afternoon sun reflected off of her plum colored skin and made her look wiser

"Told ya you couldn't get outta going," came the snarky knowing reply of Sari.

"Shadup," Earla snapped back shoving her sister.

"Stop arguing and get into the car, " her fathers authoritative voice came ending all arguments as they all bucked into the car and pulled off.

—

The car lurching from bump in the road woke Earla up and she groggily noted a gray-bricked building in looming front of her. The sign out front red Hunting-Morning Center in black curve writing.

"Okay," Summers said as she pulled into the circle drive in front of the building, "grab the bags out of the back and wait in the lobby while I park the car. "

Packages in tow they marched into the glass double doors stopped in the modest lobby. The taupe walls were covered with pictures of former patients and a poster proclaiming that happiness was on the other side of addiction. Off to the right sat a compact reception desk housing brunet male nurse in scrubs. He gave them a scrutinizing look before going back to typing on his computer.

"Alright, lets get started." Summers went to the reception desk and talked the male nurse sitting there. He made a gesture and she came back smiling.

"Okay, we are down this hallway to the right and you dad should be here shortly," Summers stated. She led them to another taupe room with the same smiley photos. The room however had a substantial table in the back, flowered sofa set, end tables in the front, and a t.v. mounted on the wall. "Boys you set up the plates. I'll grab ice. Earla you and your sister unpack the food." Given marching orders all started on their task.

"Well you've been MIA what's the deal?" Sari asked grabbing a bag and setting the food on the table

"Nothing, just busy. School, work, and training classes," nonchalantly pulling the food out of the bags. Summers had out done herself. She had made a small feast for the meal. There was mash potatoes, gravy, baked chicken, green beans, homemade cornbread, and a peach cobbler for dessert. "What 'bout you?"

"Much the same, school, work, and training."

"You… have… a job?" Earla taken aback.

"Yes, she does. Summers found it for her and she is also working part time with Mari as an assistant. Hey, kiddos," her dad answered walking towards them hugging the girls before moving on to the boys. "She is also doing better and is in charge of checking on the house."

"Yep, I am a paragon the mundane." Sari snarked back watching their dad interact with the brothers. " I also have to go with auntie this weekend for some charity event in the District. Extra fancy pantsy."

"Well, lets eat," announced Summers as they sat down, said grace and fixed their plates. The conversation flowed smoothly with each kid updating their dad on what was going on with them. It was a little surreal to Earla. They really hadn't talked like this in a long time.

"Hey dad," Brian called, "Can we watch t.v.? Gil and Gus are on." Dad nodded his approval. As the boys turned, the local news came on.

"This was the scene just moments ago as the Le Pretre Mansion broken into." The blond haired commenter on the t.v. reported. "This is the third attack in as many nights on historic houses in the Quarter. Nothing was taken of importantce, but it was ransacked and several priceless artifacts received minor damage. Police are still investigating as to who is behind these attacks."

"Looks like NOLA has a mystery on its hands." Summers commented.

"Yeah, but why attack. We don't really have valuable stuff like Gotham or tech like Metropolis?"

"But, what we do have is magic babygirl," her dad stated and continued, "New Orleans is the capital city for magic and not just voodoo. The city of New Orleans, especially the French Quarter was actually built on very powerful historic traditions of magic users. Those users left a lot of artifacts that have never been found."

Earla nodded she wondered if her dad had a clue as to what she was doing. Why else would he divulge that information? She thought about what he said as the broadcast stopped and the boys went to watch their show.

They settled into a comfortable silence as they watched the show on t.v. Earla hadn't been able to keep up with any show but apparent Gil and Gus were attempting to sneak into a sold out show and hijinks were ensued.

"Okay, pack up what is left. We leave in ten." Summers announced. The boys went and bused the table. While Sari, grumbled and grabbed containers and put the tops on and I grabbed them and put them in the bags. Wow, Sari though, we are a trained little bunch aren't we.

"Bye Dad, we'll be back on Sunday," announced Brian as he moved to hug dad. Brian's hug was quickly followed by others from the rest of us.

"I look forward to it. Boys go with your sisters to the lobby. I need to talk to Summers," dad stated motioned the door. We followed the boys back to the lobby and waited for Summers before heading out to the car.

When they arrived home, Summers pulled Earla and Sari to the side. "Okay, Earla I know you have an outing with your friends Saturday and Sari, you are accompany Mari correct. Anything special I need to pack.

"Nope I'm good. We are going to get something in the quarter." Earla responded.

"Nah, I'll be with Auntie; I should be okay." Sari came back.

"Okay, off to bed and goodnight." Summers nodded before leaving for the kitchen to put up the leftovers.

—

Saturday finally arrived and Earla was ready to spend the day in the city with her friends. She ambled over to the closet and pulled out a black hi-low slouchy top with giant white heart on the front and a pair of denim capri pants with black sandals. She picked out her 'fro and pulled it into a poofy ponytail then added earrings. She then pulled out her big denim bag stuffed it with supplies, and slung it over her shoulders before walking down stairs to the kitchen.

Mrs. Summers looked up when Earla walked into the kitchen. Summers was as always dressed immaculately with a blue oversized tee with a casual scarf, patterned tights, and calf boots. The boys and Summers were going to visit the Audubon Insectarium and had volunteered to drop Earla off a the park .

"We will be leaving in after everyone gets finished with breakfast," Mrs. Summers added before handing her a plate in motioning towards the pancakes and fruit.

"Okay," Earla grabbed a plate and quickly age breakfast. As she was finishing up the last of her breakfast her Sari walked into the room.

"Yo, sis ready for the day?" Earla asks as she sassed her sister, Sari had her hair up in mohawk brands and was wearing large black hoop eating with a teal off the shoulder shirt with jean capri pants and black sandals.

"Yep, I get the joy of accompanying Auntie to the Healthy Start Charity Picnic. Complete with nosy kids and even louder parents," Sari snarked back.

"Sarcasm, served daily," Summers said with out missing a beat.

"Morning all," greeted Aunt Mari as she walked in. She sported short-cropped hair and perfectly makeup face in an oversized red shirt; skinny jeans tucked into slouchy black boots and long sliver necklace and earrings. "Well, I heard that we all have a lot to do today."

"Yep, going out with friends and hitting the town," Earla responded. It should be a crime to look so chic in the morning she though.

"Yeah, we are going to look a the bugs. Its gonna be so cool." Alex commented while Brian nodded with a full mouth. Talk in the kitchen proceeded around the different task for the day. Dishes were washed and they all got into the cars. It didn't take long for the car to pull up in front of Armstrong Park.

"Don't forget to call when you want to be picked up," Summers called over her shoulder as Earla got out of the car onto the sidewalk. "We will be in the area all day doing things with the boys."

"Okay," Earla answered waving as they left. The crowd milling about made it difficult to spot her friend. Earla picked up her phone and shot them a quick text. Just as she finished the last word she looked up and saw a familiar head of black hair. Marion wore a black tank covered in scenes from a movie, a gray long skirt, and chucks. Her short hair was spiked and she had a jean bag slung over her shoulder.

"Okay I have water and snacks…," Marion stated rambling off the list. " Including gum, skittles, oranges, and apples. Any idea when the guys are going to make it? "

"I brought an old tablecloth for us to sit," Earla answered her back. "And no idea.

Earla kept looking over the crowd and spotted Kaldur. She would have missed him if she wasn't paying attention to the crowd. His Jackson persona was him but not. Kaldur had thrown on a green shirt with an art deco penguin, a pair of khaki pants with green shoes. He had his baseball hat hanging on a loop in his pants. Earla waved him over.

"Hey, Ka-Jackson how long ya been waitn'? Earla caught herself just in time and she had almost blurted out his real name. This was going to be challenging she thought.

"Not long I just made it, " Kaldur replied back.

"Jackson let me introduce you to Marion

"Hey," Marion said with a wave of her hand

"Nice to meet you," Kaldur waved back. "So what bands are playing?"

"Well the more well known ones are in the afternoon, but States Company should be playing by the time we get there." Marion answered him. Marion jumped when a hand came out and grabbed her shoulder.

Earla giggled as Marion turned around and wacked him with her purse. Creek just laugh his white button down moving with his motion and his hat clutched firmly in his hands.

"Yo, beautiful people relax I have arrived. You my worship me now," Earla and Marion rolled their eyes and made the introductions.

"So, what's on the agenda?" Creek asked leading down the walkway under the canopy that led into the park.

"Get Jackson aquatinted with the city," Earla replied back following his trail. They could hear the sounds of the last band saying their thanks as the exited the stage.

"Mission read and accepted," Creek smiled, "No worries you have the best tour guide evah and my assistants aren't half bad.

"So, what movies…" The boys started off into a conversation about different movies. Creek was shocked to discover that he hadn't watch Evil Dead and proceeded to make a list of movies for him to watch

They made it to the main area of the park were people were milling about. The band was set up under the canopy of the auditorium on the side that faced the front of the theater. They walked under the trees and Earla spread out the tablecloth for them to sit and continue talking.

"An' now States Company led by Betty Watson," came the voice of the announcer. The almond colored woman took the stage was clothed in a black dress bedecked with gold earring and a long gold chain with an onyx pendant. She thanked the crowd and promised a great set before she started. In her hand, she held a small green towel to wipe the sweat that amassed as she moved about the stage and sang in a soulful raspy voice about love and betrayal. The soulful raspy voice was a perfect compliment to the rhythms of the bongos and saxophone. They sat on the tablecloth and watched the band and let the music fall over them. Creek and Marion had given up on sitting on the tablecloth and moved closer to the stage to dance as they enjoyed the music.

"So, hows the journey so far?" Earla asked.

"Good you friends are…," came Kaldur's reply.

"Nuts?"

"Interesting"

"Astutely, put. They tend to grow on you like horehound." When the band finished, Creek and Marion made their way back.

"So, how did you enjoy the band?" Creek asked Kaldur as they all stood up and Earla and Marion folded the tablecloth and Earla put it into her bag and the boys walked through the crowd.

"They were good do you have any of their music?" Kaldur seemed engaged with Creek about the topic as they walked across the street into the Quarter. As they made their way down St. Peters Street, talk shifted to school gossip. Along the way they pointed out the homes that were really old to Jackson. Jackson seemed engaged as they led him down the streets of the quarter. When they came upon Perservation Hall Creek demanded that they stop and take a photo.

"Music is the life of this city and you can't leave without a photo of at least one musical site." Creek stated as he snapped the shot of the girls and Kaldur. They led him down to the Pirate's Alley and into the small bookshop where they looked at the books and petted the owners bulldog before leaving with their purchases. The supply of snacks had been dwindled.

"Okay one more place and then I must have food," demanded Creek.

"Alright, lets go to the Presbytere and look at the Mardi Gras exhibit and then get food." Marion stated all heads nodded in agreement. They walked in front of St. Louis Cathedral and Creek one again made them pose for a photo. He his longing look had Earla to promise to take a photo in the square when they came out.

The walked into the lobby and purchased a ticket from the surly looking woman at the desk and grabbed the brochures. They walked out of the lobby and to the right towards the first exhibit.

"Hey," Creek stated, "There is an exhibit on Rex and his courts. It even included the Ruby of Rose Tebo."

"Ooooo that looks interesting," commented Earla.

"Rose Tebo?"questioned Kaldur.

"They have basics of the story in the brochure but, she came from a magic family and was infamous for enchanting a rich merchant to gain his fortune," Marion said pointing to the page in the brochure. "No one could prove anything. It says her gown and jewelry are …."

Brick, glass, and metal flew as the blast smacked her into the wall. She squinted as she scanned the room for her friends. Thrown to the other side but they were moving cautiously up. Standing in the middle of the room brushing the dust out of his auburn hair was the blue-black clad body builder from the library.

"If you wish to remain unscathed. I suggest you exit out the front," A familiar red headed figure stated gesturing with a glowing black gloved finger. It was the girl from the library yesterday bedecked in an awful skintight black pants and a bikini top that left little to the imagination. Earla watched as Marion and Creek made for the exit. Kaldur grabbed and dragged her out of the door on their sided of the room. She whipped around to demand why when, he held up three fingers. It was the sign for get on the suits. Earla nodded and raced down the street. She turned into alley and followed it down. Arriving at a dead end, her eyes swept checking for people. She jerked on her mask, yanked off her civies, and shimmed into her uniform. In her uniform, she used the building to make her way back to the spot.

Kaldur was there and battle ready. Upon seeing, her he proceeded towards the building.

"Our opponents are Shimmer and her brother Mammoth. Shimmer's attacks are energy based. Mammoth's attacks come from his strength." Okay so don't get close to the big one and be careful of the energy user. They dashed into the building.

"While if it isn't A-cursed-lad and Blue Lacky. Isn't this a bit far from you hometown," Shimmer announced.

"Not, really just visiting. Though, I could get back to the city if you decided to give up now," Kaldur retorted.

"Not really our style. If you would just ignore us we'll be outta here lickety-split," Shimmer added.

"You're cute and if ya looking I can show you a better time than fishboy," Mammoth jeered. Earla jerked this was weird she was getting hit on by a villain.

"Mammoth grab the jewel and kill the flirting. We've a deadline to meet," Shimmer yelled back and charged towards Jolt.

"Funny, I didn't get the memo," Earla replied mentally cursing years of ingrained retorts.

"So, you wanna play lets," Shimmers eyes narrowed in focus of her new target. Earla's pulse was running ninety miles as the blast came towards her and she dove to the side of a statue. The constant barrage of blast pinned her to her hiding place behind the statue.

"So disappointing. I thought you'd have a little more." Earla took the pause to send a blast and by some luck hit the ground in front of Shimmer causing her to jump back.

"Tricky, Tricky." Shimmer commented. "Lets see how you handle this." Earla peeked over the statue and saw that she was gathering a larger amount of energy. Crap! Earla thought as jumped to avoided the blast.

"Are you gonna keep running? Good keep out of my way newbi….." Shimmer's monolog was cut short as Mammoth crashed on top of her. Earla looked over to the left and saw Kaldur panting hard and gestured at the two. Earla sent a small volt to knock out the two.

"Good job today," Kaldur stated. Earla know it was boloney but it felt good. "Let leave and find our group the cops can figure to the details." They left changed and went back to the square looking for Marion and Creek.

"Guys you had me worried." Marion exclaimed. Earla returned the hug.

"Injuries?" Earla leaned over inspecting her friends.

"Nah nothing but…whoa you need to see the doc asap." Creek grabbed her arm and turned towards the first aid center.

"Whaut?" came the inarticulate reply from Earla

"You're face is has dried blood." Kaldur explained calmly

"Looks more serious than it is already had it checked." Earla made up real quick she would get it checked at the cave later.

"I think we've had enough excitement. Lets grab a poboy and go home." Marion stated and all the heads nodded in a agreement.

A/N: Yes, I finally made an update to this story. I am still continuing to write on this it probably has about two more chapters before I am finished. :-)


	6. Chapter 6

AN: This is an update to this chapter with the final part added at the end to stop the story so I can move on to another project. Thanks to all those who reviewed.

Earla arrived home, trudged up the stairs, grabbed clothes, and headed to the shower. Her body was covered from tip to top in groudy with extra side of sweat-funky for good measure. It was a wonder that her friends didn't question why she was impersonating an excavator with the amount of dirt she wore. She peeled off her clothes and headed in to the spray of warm water. What would the others think of her performance?

As she cleaned herself, she let her mind wander to the fight. She froze like water in the winter. All of that training for what? What had she done? She stood there gaping like a mopey dope waiting on someone else to help her. She was useless and who was she kidding, definitely not ready for hero crap. Sure, she had two months of training, but really two month compared to lunatics like the Joker? This was not going to turn out well. She turned off the water dried off, dressed, and went to the kitchen.

"Auntie what are…?"Earla asked as a big bowl of red beans and rice was put into her hands as her aunt gestured to the table.

"I saw your escapade and thought that we needed to talk," Aunt Mari stated before joining her at the table with her own bowl and two bottles of water. Earla swallowed to engrossed in her eating to really care about the dressing down she was about to get.

"Not graceful but…"Earla ventured to look up mid-chew. "Not bad for your first real battle." Her aunt finished as she put in a spoonful of beans. Earla looked dumbstruck. She spluttered.

"Of course there are things that needed to be improved. Such as your attacks but with practice…"

"Scary," Earla counted attempting to find something to say that could describe it. That was eloquent nothing had come to mind.

"I'd worried if you said that you'd thought it was fun. Battle are very serious things that must be weighed and measured." Mari continued eating.

"Not a life for me maybe," Earla said voicing the fear that had been creeping in her mind.

"Maybe not but who's asking you to decided today?" Earla looked up at her aunt "Look, La-la, your life, your decisions. What did your I say at the beginning?" Earal thought back to her aunts words at the beginning of practice.

"Control," Earla said coming up with the word her aunt had told her it was about.

"You're not there fully so you can't quit, but when you do, it it's up to you."

"I don't wanna do that again."

"Look people leave the life of a super all the time some people find that its not for them. The hours long unpredictable and to top it off you still have personal life to maintain and no boss, believe me, is going to take I had to save the world as an valid excuse for being late. No one is asking you to be a hero forever."

"But why am…." Her aunt just looked at her.

"Best tutors in the world." Her aunt nodded at the answer that she gave. Earla took a long drink well that was her first battle. It was bound to get easier from here wasn't it.

Earla jerked awake eyes darted around the room for danger. Her heart thudded in her chest as she breathed in and out calming herself. She had only been asleep for an hour and dispute wanting to go back Morpheus was not coming to her rescue any time soon. She was wired like a jackrabbit meeting a snake. She threw the covers off and head over to the dvds to pick a distraction from the shelf. She needed her mind off of what had happened earlier. Pulling an old movie from her pile she put it into to the player. The plot was a familiar song that she knew the lyrics but the movie wasn't meant to be entertaining just a distraction. Before exhaustion became her sleep drug of choice, dvds had been one of her favorite ways to fall asleep. Training my insomnia cure of choice. She pressed play and let the familiar sound of the title and Del tha Funkee Homosapien take her to the land of big heists and casinos.

Her hand whacked the offending alarm clock with full furry. How dare it stop her lovely rem cycle after a fitful start full of replays with bad endings sleep had finally came. She arched her back and stretched the sleep out well there was no use crying over it. Sunday was here and in full. Sunday, Sunday was filled with no expectations just a day of church and relaxations. But nope not today. She had work to make up and she wanted to keep her grades up.

Most of the others were pulling As and Bs in their classes despite saving the world on a regular basis. Robin as a matter of fact was pulling As not that surprised anyone with someone like the Bat hovering over your shoulder. She gave a little mental shutter and was thankful that she didn't have a caretaker like the Batman looking after her. She could barely make it with a semi-normal aunt thank you very much. Earla didn't want to be left out as the only average kid on a super team.

Leaving her nice warm bed she pulled a sweatshirt on and plopped down at the desk and opened her books for English. She wrote about how the parable of the pearl was to teach people about how not to loose site of important things in the pursuit of money because money could turn from a dream into a nightmare. and as Summers called up the stair for them to get ready and come down she was finished with a rough outline of the essay.

"Cave today," came Mrs. Summers greeted as she gestured to the table where the cereal and bowls were.

"No, its…,"

"Mission debrief and standard psych-eval for all post battle combatants."

"Fine" Stuffing a spoonful of cereal. Earla didn't feel like talking to a shrink. Who'd do that job anyway? Did Superman and Batman have to submit to the same post battle evaluation. That brought a smile to her face. "So, Batman tell me about about your last battle with the Joker." Glare.

"Help me move equipment and we will get our evals," Kaldur stated as he pick up one of the boxes on the floor. Earla grabbed another one and followed after.

"Where are these going? What is it? What is a psych-eval anyway?" Early said walking fast to catch up.

"To the armory, power cells, and a test of your mental state?" Turned into the room that was the amour and set the box along a wall. He turned around and Earla gave him a blank stare.

"To help us cope with after mission doubts and fears. All members of the team get after mission evals." He explained as they walked back to the room.

"Like…," Earla paused unsure if she should continue, "nightmares?

"Yes, among other things…," replied and looked at here with a worried expression.

" Don't stress. It's no biggie right how bad can a few dreams be?" Earla replied hoping to sound confident and not the terrified she was feeling.

"Very big if they're underlying emotions you're not dealing with," stated Canary who she didn't know was listening. "Leave those to Kaldur let's you and I get started on your eval." Great Earla thought now she was going to get some psychologist in her head as she followed Canary into to a familiar room with couches.

"So, who's the team's shrink."

"Me"

"You"

"Well, I do have a degree and training in dealing with the human mind." No wonder she was so good a manipulating Earla into training.

"Now, tell me about the nightmares," Canary said as she sat down and gave a pointed look.

"Well…," Earla paused looked down the fears flowing. She didn't want to talk and considered making something up and just dealing with it later. She looked up and Canary arched an eyebrow. It was understood no lies. "It starts all with the build up to the museum…." Earla launched into a conversation about the dream and they both back and forth with Canary asking probing questions. Earla glanced at the clock and saw that the thirty minutes were up.

"Everyone has doubts, second guesses. Regrets are just past decisions. Nothing can be done about them except to learn and move on," Canary stated as a dismissal. Preoccupied Earla walked back out and motions for Kaldur to go back. Repression what that what this was? Should she talk to someone or hold it back?

Earla sat and thought about it. She hadn't really considered about the time before going to live with her aunt had she really been that angry at dad, mom? Truthfully she didn't know and all this thinking was giving her a headache. Kaldur was walking back to her. She'd deal with this later. Kaldur motion for her to follow and they walked towards where M'gann and Connor were talking with KF by the bike. Waving Earla walked next to M'gann and looked down. Kaldur had stopped next to Red Tornado and was talking.

"Why's KF fixing…?" Earla asked

"He claimed that he could," M'gann scoffed.

"Oh, I can babe. Torque Wrench," KF answered and M'gann floated the asked for tool towards him.

"Thanks green cheeks," he gave before disappeared back into the inner working of the bike.

Kaldur finished his talk and walked over as Tornado zetaed away as the computer called out the destination. The water lapped against the side of the cave creating ambient background for was happening.

"I have been meaning to ask any problems juggling school work with your responsibilities here?" Kaldur began as he stopped in front of the group.

"No," Superboy replied crossing his arms over his chest in an defiant that was all you were getting manner.

"Nah, I've adjusted," Jolt stated as she walked over to Kid Flash and knelt beside him at the bike.

"Juggling is just one of my many talents, socket wrench," Kid Flash held out his hand for the tool. Earla reached out and handed to him.

"Daily, cheerleader practice has presented a challenge. Oh, but my first loyalty is always to the team," M'gann rambled smiling, "This team not the Bumblebees."

"Artemis starts school today do you think that she will have trouble," Kaldur pondered. Where was he going with all these questions this was unlike him to ask about everyone personally. What was he up to exactly "Do you think she will have trouble maintaining her loyalties?"

"Nah," Earla came back making eyes at Kaldur and making sure that he understood that she would question this later. She was sure that her friend was able to maintain her loyalties and responsibilities. It was amazing to think about it but the only one person with super powers had outside lives outside of the team besides her. What must these three be like adjusting to a different culture? Sure her aunt was a bit of a bore but at least she had family. Connor was a clone. M'gann was one of the last of her people. Kaldur was an ward of the state of Atlantis.

"That's for sure. she'll manage all right." snarked KF standing and dusting himself off. "I mean how much more annoying and antisocial can ...ow." A well placed punch in the shoulders from Earla cut him off with a glare for good measure. "What?"

Before Earla could give him a replay a blast of water came over the wall they all were knocked back and hit the wall. The world faded to black.

Earla opened her eyes. It took a moment for the world to come into focus. KF was being treated by Batman and the others were being treated by their respective guardian. She looked down and noticed that there was a cast on her left foot. Great she thought just perfect.

"Welcome back to the land of the living," Black Canary said as she walked over.

"How's …," Earla trailed off not quite sure that that this was happening and went to stand up.

"Nothing major just a few scrapes and broken bones. In fact, you will you're going to be out of commission for at least six weeks before were even going to attempt to test that bone." Earla nodded at her statement and caught the eye of Kaldur and he walked over.

Kaldur leaned in grabbed her hand and whispered. "The base was attacked by one of our own and we are going to find out why. They have asked us to allow them to investigate but…"

"Not sure of how much help I can be like this but count me in on finding out why Tornado did this," she whispered back he pressed hard into her hand and she noticed a flashdrive and nodded.

She was out of commission for a while but that didn't mean that she was off the team. Actually, this new routine would be good for a while she would get to be normal for a bit and see if she truly wanted to wear the tights.

AN: If you recognized it ,it probably wasn't mine. Have been working on finishing up this story and am grinding to the end.

AN: Just added a paragraph to end this story and finish. That is off my list.


End file.
